1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a feeding apparatus capable of feeding sheets of recording medium, and an image recording apparatus including the feeding apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there has been known a feeding apparatus which includes trays capable of loading sheets of recording medium and which feeds the sheets from the trays to an image recording apparatus such as ink-jet type, electrophotographic type or the like in a state that the trays are installed in the image recording apparatus. It has been known that the above image recording apparatus has a plurality of trays installed in a superimposed manner. The plurality of trays load different sizes of sheets and/or different types of sheets (plain paper and glossy paper for example).
Further, the plurality of trays are not limited to a structure in which each tray is provided as an individual member. For example, the image recording apparatus may have a structure in which one cassette which includes a plurality of layered trays is installable. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-227377 discloses an image recording apparatus including such a cassette. The cassette disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-227377 has an upper tray supported by a lower tray, and the upper tray is movable relative to the lower tray. When the upper tray is moved up to a tip-end portion of the cassette, the upper tray is supported by a frictional separator which is an inclined plate provided at the tip-end portion of the cassette. By virtue of this, the upper tray is stabilized in terms of vertical or up-down position.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-242928 discloses an image recording apparatus in which the abovementioned inclined plate is provided in the image recording apparatus rather than in the cassette or trays. The abovementioned inclined plate has a function of preventing the sheets loaded in the cassette or tray from falling out of the cassette or tray when removing the cassette or tray from the image recording apparatus. Therefore, in the cassette without any inclined plate as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-242928, instead of the inclined plate, a stopper is provided at the tip-end portion of the cassette or tray to fulfill the above function.
In the cassette disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-227377 in which the upper tray is movable relative to the lower tray, such a configuration as follows is preferable if the inclined plate is removed from the tip-end portion of the cassette and, instead, stoppers are arranged at the tip-end portion. That is, the stoppers are arranged in the upper tray and the lower tray respectively, and the stopper arranged in the lower tray is configured to support and stabilize the upper tray in terms of the up-down position of the upper tray.
However, such configuration as described above may give rise to the following problem. That is, if the upper tray moves relative to the lower tray toward the tip-end portion, i.e. toward the stopper in a state that the sheets are loaded in the lower tray, the uppermost one of the sheets loaded in the lower tray is liable to move to follow the lower surface of the upper tray.
Although the stopper arranged in the lower tray supports the upper tray, if the upper tray is bending, an interspace arises between the upper end of the stopper and the lower surface of the upper tray. In such case, the sheet, which is moving to follow the lower surface of the moving upper tray, is liable to enter the interspace. As a result, the sheet is liable to be sandwiched between the stopper and the upper tray, and hence to be bent and broken.